L.A. phone scam moves east

Sam stopped by the other day to tell me he had nearly been the victim of a scam and he thought our readers might like to know about it.

After hearing his story and making a few phone calls, I agreed. Sam was smart enough not to fall into this scheme and we both hope others will follow his lead. It could save you a lot of money on your telephone bill.

Sam, who is from Temecula, said that a few nights ago he was awakened by a phone call about 12:30 a.m. from someone saying he represented the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

“He said that someone in my family had been injured in an accident,” Sam said, “and while he wasn’t authorized to give out any more information, he recommended that I call the sergeant on duty.”

Think for a minute how you might feel under those circumstances. It’s late, you’re barely awake, and you’re told that someone close to you could be seriously hurt, or even worse. It’s a call that none of us wants and when it comes, the panic could be instant.

To make it sound official, the caller gave Sam a seven-digit case number and then instructed that he call a phone number with a 323 area code, which is in Los Angeles.

“You must dial *72 first,” Sam was told. That was the sergeant’s extension and when that was dialed first, he would be directly connected with the person who could tell him more.

When he hung up, Sam was suspicious. The caller said a few things that left him wondering and he was confused about the phone number starting with *72. So, he called the operator.

“When I explained what happened, she knew exactly what I was talking about,” Sam said. “She told me not to call that number.”

The 323 number probably belongs to a friend or a family member of an inmate in the Los Angeles County Jail. By dialing *72 plus the number, Sam would have been forwarding all his calls to that phone number. And the person who has the number could then authorize collect calls, which would be billed to Sam's phone. That could add up to a lot of phone calls from inside the Los Angeles County Jail.

A spokeswoman for the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department said this has been an ongoing problem for about two years. Not much can be done, she said, because inmates are allowed phone privileges.

It must have been a scheme dreamed up when those little tricksters grew tired of watching “Judge Judy” or “The Young and the Restless.” If not careful, a victim of this scam could end up paying some massive phone bills.

There is a catch. It only works if the victim has a phone feature called “call forwarding” that allows you to route calls to other numbers. Dialing *73 cancels the forwarding feature.

Sam doesn’t subscribe to “call forwarding” as part of his phone service so he probably wouldn’t have been stung if he had followed the caller’s instructions. But that won’t stop the inmates from fishing until they find someone who bites.

“I have no idea how they got my number,” Sam said. He added that has no connection to the L.A. County Jail.

A Riverside County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman said it hasn’t been an issue in our county jails.

Anyone who has been the victim of such a scam is asked to call the California Public Utilities Commission Consumer Hotline at (800) 649-7570.

If you know of someone who would be interesting to feature in a column, call Jim Rothgeb at (951) 676-4315, ext. 2621, or email jim.rothgeb@californian.com.